Ghent: Day 4

Another hot and sticky night with not much sleep.   The fan in the apartment registers never less that 29º all night!

The Wandelbus

We made good use of the little free bus today.   It wanders around the city on a circular route.  You put your hand out to stop it and tell the driver when you want to get off.  As it goes past all the main sights it makes a useful way of getting around at a gentle pace...it's battery operated, so slow, especially over the cobbles.   We were surprised that it wasn't used more and also that people stared at us, amused, as we trundled past.   Maybe they didn't know about it being free!  The other bonus was that it goes right past the apartment.

Huis Van Alijn

Inside the museum

Our destination in the morning was the Huis van Alijn, a museum housed in an old orphanage.  The one that was closed yesterday.  The first part of the museum was devoted to the history of the Gent Festival that we had just missed.    The second part was a tour through the changing social customs of the 20C with some excellent displays.   We had read that there was a cafe at the museum but it turned out to be just a bar.  We had our coffee there.  One of my favourite things in the museum were the smell jars!   In this picture on the right you see the puffers for smelling soap and washing powder!

Lunch

We followed the museum with a quick search for lunch.  Again, no sense in wandering far in the blistering heat.  We went down the road by the museum and into a health food shop with cafe and chose seats outside under shade by the riverside.    We had large salads, with a great variety of vegetables and greens, humous and couscous, washed down with lemonade and plenty of water.   We watched the boats go by on the river.

After lunch we bought our supper in the shop - the makings of a Spanish omelette, Liss style and then hopped back on the bus and back to the apartment to rest and freshen up.   Another cold shower!    We made supper and then walked to Sint Baarfscathedral for an organ concert.   The organist played about 6/7 pieces.   There was no clapping between pieces and we slightly lost track of where we were in the programme; a) because we couldn't read the programme notes and b) because we kept nodding off!   It was enjoyable but we decided organ music is not our favourite.    We walked home and enjoyed our nectarines before collapsing once more into bed and struggling for hours to get to sleep!   We are looking forward to our cool house in Norwich and some rain, which is forecast for today.  At last!

Ghent: Day 3

Still hot!   Still got more insect bites, despite spraying with Mary Duce's 'Oh So Soft'!  We didn't start very early this morning but it wasn't too hot when we set off for the cathedral.  We walked there and on the way discovered  Ghent's 'Waitrose' full of delicious food and also some very upmarket looking microwave meals.   We made no purchases but might go back there to purchase our supper to have at home before a concert on Thursday night.

Ghent Cathedral

We made for the Ghent Cathedral and the famous altarpiece.  The cathedral itself is ornate and a feast of black, white and gold!  It has the skeleton of a whale which was washed up in Ghent and died, an odd thing to find in a church!

Ghent Altarpiece

We paid to go in and see the altarpiece, placed in the dark and behind glass screens.  The audio guide was good and it was an interesting sight, though it was impossible to know which bits were photographs of panels taken away for restoration and which were real.

From there we walked to the Friday Market and had a cold drink in a cafe before going on to a museum which was closed, despite the notices outside saying it should be open!   I can tell you that in that heat one can do without such disappointments!  

We battled on and took a tram to the park with the art museums in it and strolled across the park in the welcome shade of the trees.

Citadel Park

As luck would have it, we stumbled first on the museum restaurant and stopped for lunch.   Peter had burrata with tomatoes and salad and I had herring salad and we finished with strong coffee to keep us going into the afternoon.

We wandered round the vast Fine Art Museum and also stopped off at the special room where they are conserving panels from the altarpiece.   We watched a conservator peering at one corner of the central panel through a microscope and making tiny movements with brushes, holding one hand with the other to steady herself.   There was an interesting panel explaining the work and the process of restoration and also the philosophy.  Some of the panels had been badly restored in the past and also painted over at times. So, how far does one go in removing later work to reach the original or do if the original has missing patches.

A few that caught my eye! 

We enjoyed the 20C paintings, some of which we had seen in an exhibition in Paris.

We wandered back through the park and caught the tram back to near the apartment.   We stopped off at a supermarket for some fruit before getting home for a welcome cup of tea!

We went out later to eat at the restaurant we had spotted the night before.  Unfortunately there were no seats outside, but we were OK inside with a breeze coming through the building.  The restaurant, T'oud Clooster,  the old cloister, was very popular.  Our waitress was very smiley despite the fact that she was worked off her feet.  The food was a little disappointing.  Peter had moussaka with no aubergine and I had chicken, rice and salad that was ok but was not what I imagined from the menu description.  Other dishes going by looked good, so maybe we just chose badly.  30º in the apartment when we got back!

Ghent: Day 2

On the way to the Design Museum

We made breakfast at the apartment and then headed on foot for the Design Museum, spotting on the way a suitable lunch place 'Alice' - always good to plan in advance for the next meal!  You never know!

The Design museum consisted of an ancient baroque house with a modern extension.  We toured the 3 floors.  An interesting mixture - the chairs were my favourite - but there was also some beautiful 20C table ware.   A collection of old furniture that had been set alight and then refurbished, failed to excite!

There was an exhibition of fans made from hardened clay and as the fans were on, I sat and enjoyed the breeze.

Inside the Design Museum

Inside the baroque half of the building the grandeur was in stark contrast to some of the very modern pieces.

I liked the cheeky pirate in the boat on the chandelier.

Inside the old part

From the museum we wandered in search of coffee and then dived into the tourist office for another map and some tips about transport.   We did a short walk round part of the old town - it was just too hot to be in the sun so it was a case of finding the shady roads and then hailed a little free blue, battery operated, 'car' that plies its way round the city centre.    We hopped off near the restaurant we had spotted earlier and had omelette and chips with salad in a fairly shady courtyard.

We have realised that we have arrived in Ghent after some week long city celebration which explains the staging everywhere, the lorries collecting scaffolding and the litter - and the fact that many restaurants are now closed until August.  Oh well!

(Clockwise from top left) along the river, the castle, the free ride and the lunch restaurant. 

The weather today

After lunch we had a siesta and we are now lingering inside in the relative cool before sallying forth in search of the next meal.

We have decided to take it easy and slowly.
The weather is set to get hotter!   Today there was supposed to be a gentle breeze but it must have blown on someone else.

We ate just round the corner at an Asian restaurant, Lucy Chang.  We had a seat outside and it wasn't too hot.  Peter had a spicey noodle bowl with prawns and a Chinese beer and I had coconut chicken curry and jasmine tea.   Both were good despite the restaurant being part of a chain.  Afterwards we had a short walk and spotted another potential eating place and then back to the flat and, shortly afterwards, bed!

Ghent: Day 1

Here we are on our travels again.   Just a short break in Ghent, Belgium, a city we haven't visited before.

We flew from Norwich to Amsterdam and then took the train to Ghent via Antwerp taking in some amazing station architecture on the way.

We befriended a lady from Maryland on the platform in Amsterdam who was also going to Ghent.  She was worried about the connection in Antwerp but unfortunately she did not have a seat reservation so she didn't board our coach and we did not see her again.  I hope she made it!

We missed the connection in Antwerp as our train from Amsterdam was late and we came in on platform 23 and had to find platform 1 via several escalators. Anyway, it gave us the chance to admire the station.  

We had our picnic lunch on the Antwerp to Ghent part of the journey and then took a taxi to the apartment, which turned out to be another good Airbnb find.

Flat, inside and outside and the view

It's a large lounge/dining area with good kitchen and bathroom cunningly built in below the very high ceilings.   Our first discovery was that whoever used the dishwasher last didn't know you had to take the plastic off the tablet and had no idea about packing it.  So we had a dishwasher full of dirty things including a frying pan stuck with egg wedged in with lots of other stuff...and a broken glass.   Still, we have now sorted that!  We made a basic shopping list and set off for the supermarket.  Well, the temperature on the fan inside the flat said 29º outside it was a great deal hotter!  A real scorcher of a day!  We found the supermarket eventually and made our purchases and then returned to a cafe near the flat for a cold drink.    Slightly refreshed we set off again in search of a wine shop, on the way finding a good bookshop for a map and a more interesting supermarket where we bought wine.

Like many places that have had no rain for weeks and weeks, the small part of Ghent we have experienced so far is a little grubby but there is no traffic and just trams and bicycles to watch out for crossing the road.   We brought our purchases back to the flat and collapsed for a while.   We hadn't spotted anywhere to eat on our shopping trip so we went back to the Italian style cafe where we had had a drink earlier and had burrata and tomato starter and then spaghetti a l'arrabiata.  Very spicy and a huge portion!   When we got back my foot had swollen in the heat and I had a cold shower for the first time in my life!    Peter continued with his researches and I hope he has come up with a plan for Day 2.   It was a hot and sticky night!  And I got bitten!